


Getting Through

by LiraelClayr007



Series: My 2018 - 31 Days of Ficmas! [8]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas Cookies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 07:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16908435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiraelClayr007/pseuds/LiraelClayr007
Summary: The Doctor is...down. He doesn't want to go out, doesn't want to talk, and Rose isn't sure what to do.So she does what she does, and finds a way to get them both through.





	Getting Through

“Your tea is getting cold.”

The Doctor doesn’t even look up from  _ Great Expectations _ . His eyes move across the words, his fingers twitch and flip the pages, but beyond that he could be a statue. She can’t even be sure he’s breathing.

“You’ve read that book three times in the past week. At least. Not to mention the others.” She glances at the scatter of books on the table next to the sofa:  _ A Tale of Two Cities _ ,  _ Hamlet _ ,  _ A Christmas Carol _ ,  _ Oliver Twist _ ,  _ Macbeth _ , and--curiously-- _ Pride and Prejudice _ .

_ One of these things is not like the others _ , she thinks.

“It might be good to get out for a bit. Someplace snowy, maybe? We could go ice skating.”

Her suggestions fall like stones onto a frozen pond.  _ Plink. Plink. Plink. _

She takes a step toward the sofa, hesitates, then walks the rest of the way, crouching down beside him. Her hand only shakes a little when she rests it on his arm and says, “It wasn’t your fault. I know you’re blaming yourself, but there wasn’t anything you could have done differently. Those people were out of control. And you  _ did _ save most of them.” He doesn’t answer, doesn’t even look at her, but she knows he’s listening because his eyes have stopped tracking the words on the page. Only a tiny quaver enters her voice as she says, “You saved me.”

The Doctor closes his eyes, pain etched into every line of his face. In that moment, perhaps for the first time, Rose can clearly see the ancient alien in the man before her.

Time is malleable when your home is a timeship; sometimes you kiss your mum goodbye, leave for a month, and when you hug her again she thinks it’s only been twenty seconds. Other times you go three weeks always having mornings, never seeing the stars. And then there are moments like this, when time stretches and stretches until it finally pops, a bubble bursting and sending the two of them scurrying to their respective corners to gather their wits. Or, in this case, to send Rose scurrying. The Doctor, although surely he’s noticed, still sits, eyes closed. Possibly reliving his past.

Rose steps back a little too quickly, nearly trips over the coffee table, and is at the door almost before she realizes what she’s doing. Perils of timeship life, indeed. “I’ll just…” she starts, but she gives up and retreats without finishing.

* * *

When Rose toes the door open three hours later the Doctor is still on the sofa, but he’s sitting up at least. “Brought you a fresh cuppa,” she says, setting the tea tray on the table.

“What’s all this?” It’s good to hear that curiosity in his voice again, even if faint.

Rose smiles shyly. “Christmas biscuits.”

“Rose, there’s--”

“No Christmas on a timeship, yeah, I know. But there’s no morning either, and I still eat breakfast. There’s no night, but I still go to bed. Christmas biscuits are...soothing. They make me feel warm and comforted. Mum always picked a dreary, stay-in kind of day for baking our Christmas sweets, and when they were done the whole flat was cozy and smelled of cinnamon and sugar and chocolate for days.” She’s lost in the memory for a moment. Blinking herself back to the present, she sits down next to the Doctor. She wants to take his hand, but instead she twines her fingers together and looks into his eyes. “You’ve been beating yourself up over what happened on Ankaron. You feel bad because you’re you and it hurts when you can’t fix everything. I get it. I know you think I…” She shakes her head, takes a breath. “You’ve been down, and you haven’t wanted to talk to me, and that’s okay. But I can see that you need a hug, and if you won’t let me get close enough to give you the actual kind…” She shrugs. “This is a hug that isn’t a hug.” 

She looks away, feeling awkward. Should she go? She’d brought him the biscuits and tea. She hadn’t really planned beyond that.

“Alright then.” She gets to her feet, but before she can leave he reaches out and takes her hand.

“Stay.” His voice breaks a little; he clears his throat. “Have tea with me? There’s two cups.”

He squeezes her hand.

“Yeah,” she says, sitting next to him again. “Yeah, alright.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> 31 Days of Ficmas || day 8 - holiday baking
> 
> author's note: I’m both sorry and not-sorry about this one. Sorry because the prompt “holiday baking” should lead to something light and fluffy and giggly…shouldn’t it? My story from last year sure did. But also not-sorry…because sometimes the Doctor struggles, and I love when the people who love him show him compassion.


End file.
